Will Trump get another ‘two birds with one stone’?

Tuesday blog

Most of our media and talking heads all agree that President Trump is ‘mad’, ‘deluded’, ‘unpredictable’, psychologically unbalanced’, unfit to be president’ etc etc etc

But they deliberately overlook his successes:

• He virtually stopped illegal immigration over the US’s southern border and has deported tens of thousands of illegals, many of them dangerous criminals. Perhaps our Trump-criticising rulers might tell us why they have failed to do this in Europe and the UK?
• The US economy grew by 2.1% in 2025 compared to the EU’s 1.5% and the UK’s 1.4%. Under the rule of Mr Merz, the German Chancellor, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Trump, the German economy grew by about 0.2% in 2025. Perhaps our Trump-hating rulers could explain why Trump’s America has a better growth rate than their countries? It would also be interesting to hear from Mr Merz as to why Trump’s America’s growth rate in 2025 was over 10 times that of Herr Merz’s Germany? How about it, Herr Merz?
• Trump has criticised NATO countries for hiding behind American military might, backed the other NATO countries into a corner over their failure to spend enough on their defence and several are now rapidly increasing their defence spending.
• Trump has exposed the ‘Global Boiling’ scam for the nonsense it always was and has scrapped all the grifter subsidies which were pushing up US energy prices. Meanwhile the EU and Britain continue to pursue the ruinous, economically-suicidal ‘green’ policies which are destroying their industries, pushing up unemployment and turning their countries into post-industrial wastelands. Perhaps our Trump-hating loser politicians could explain why energy costs in the EU are around three times those in the US and energy costs in the UK are around four times those in the US? I’m sure a lot of people would be interested to hear an explanation? How about it Mr Starmer and Mr Miliband?

But it may be in foreign policy where Trump has been most successful. Taking out Venezuela’s Maduro and his wife was a move of genius. It has brought Venezuela under effective US control at minimum cost to the US and the US now decides where Venezuelan oil can go and how the country’s oil wealth can be spent. But the Maduro extraction and imprisonment also brought another benefit to the US – it has destroyed the Cuban economy and Cuba may soon be begging the US for help. I suspect the US will be only too willing to help Cuba providing the US gets significant control of the Cuban economy and political system. Trump got two birds with one stone.

Now everybody is blaming Trump for blundering into a war with Iran. But nobody seems interested in discussing what would have happened if America and Israel had not attacked. It’s clear now, from the vast number of ballistic missiles, drones and amount of enriched uranium that Iran had that Iran was intent on destroying Israel and bringing the whole Middle East under a nuclear- and missile-armed Iranian control. This had to be stopped.

Of course, defeating the suicidal, fanatical IRGC won’t be easy. The world found out how difficult beating death-obsessed, reality-denying fanatics can be when confronting Japan in WWII. And we all know the quote from some Prussian general “No plan survives first contact with the enemy” or, as MIke Tyson so eloquently said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”. So there will be some setbacks to come in the confrontation with the murderous lunatics controlling Iran.

But one side of the Iranian conflict many observers might be missing is its effect on the US’s greatest economic and military rival – China. We can’t trust any economic data published by the beloved Chinese Communist Party (CCP). But various sources suggest that unemployment is soaring in China with factories closing, real estate companies collapsing and tens of millions facing ruin. Somewhere between 6 and 10 million Chinese will spend the next 20 years paying off the debt they took on to buy properties which will never be completed. Youth employment is officially around 17% but is probably well over 25% as, due to the difficulty of finding jobs, some young people are paying for services to pretend they are working, with such companies appearing in major cities.

The CCP claims that China’s GDP grew by 5.0% in 2025, meeting the government’s, and in some cases exceeding, growth targets. Yet this was despite factory closures, a property sector downturn and weak consumer spending. I’m sure the CCP will claim GDP growth of 5%-6% for 2026. But by the end of 2025, China was importing up to about 1.4 million barrels per day (mbd) from Iran, representing 13% of its total crude imports and some 80% to 90% of Tehran’s oil exports. Moreover, prior to Maduro’s holiday in the US, China was the primary buyer of Venezuelan oil, with estimates suggesting at least 5% of China’s crude oil imports came from Venezuela – over 90% of Venezuela’s exports went to China.

Incidentally, Vietnam’s GDP growth in 2025 was over 8%, mainly due to companies moving manufacturing from China to Vietnam.

So, by grabbing hold of Venezuela and by pummelling Iran, Trump may be killing two birds with one stone – thrashing Venezuela and Iran while at the same time severely damaging America’s enemies – Cuba and China?